Home Of Superheroes, the Supernatural, Swords, Sorcery, and Star Stuff

Monday, 26 June 2017

[OPINION POLL] Would You Wear A Cape If You Were A Superhero?

Dollar Bill, Watchmen (Zack Snyder, 2009)

As a bit of fun over the weekend, I ran a short opinion poll on the concept of capes as part of the superhero costume, specifically "if you were a superhero, would your costume include a cape?"

Jonathan Linneman immediately reminded us of the fate of Dollar Bill in Alan Moore's Watchmen (pictured above in Zack Snyder's 2009 movie adaptation) , who was gunned down by bank robbers when his cape became snagged in the building's revolving door.

The enigmatic Unknown, an amateur artist, pointed out that: "As it's a visual medium capes work with superheroes and speak of authority and mystery. Practical uses are minimal so if heroes were real few would have them I suspect unless their authority or mystery were key."

The visual impact of a hero's cape was also highlighted by Natholeon who, admitting he would wear a cape as a superhero, said: "Capes add a certain degree of gravitas to a hero. I guess it also depends on what type of hero you are. Night-time heroes like Batman use them for concealment in the shadows, while invulnerable types like Superman and Thor are so powerful that a cape is never going to be a disadvantage in a fight."

And lest we forget the wise words of Incredibles' fashion designer Edna E Mode (as pointed out by numerous people):

However, despite the overwhelmingly negative anecdotal evidence of the potential dangers of cape-wearing, the majority of survey participants (52.17%) said they WOULD wear a cape if they were a superhero.

Interesting to see how close the voting came out! I wonder how feasible it would be for a superhero (or villain) to go the Cobra Commander route...wearing a cape when it's needed to look cool, but dropping it for "battle suit" mode. (Now that I write that out, it sure seems like it'd be a pretentious thing for a hero to do...)

The vote kept swinging wildly towards "yes", at one point was running 50/50, and eventually settled on a Brexit-thin margin (I see the whole vote as a metaphor for Brexit: despite the evidence, and expert testimony, pointing to the the dangers of doing so, people voted for something because it sounded cool!)